The Football Forecast

Newcastle 2-2 Bristol City – Lucky escape

Yesterday Newcastle drew 2-2 with Bristol City at home. An own goal from Korey Smith and a goal from Ciaran Clark rescued a point

Teams
Newcastle fielded a side of Darlow, Yedlin, Lascelles, Clark, Dummett, Shelvey, Colback, Ritchie, Perez, Atsu and Mitrovic. This side had three changes from the one that beat Aston Villa 2-0 with Gouffran, Diame, and Gayle being dropped for Atsu, Perez, and Mitrovic. Dwight Gayle, however, is out with a hamstring injury but might return for the Brighton match but it will be touch and go right until the squad is named. In other team news, Anita and Aarons are still sidelined.

Bristol played a team of Giefer, Vyner, Flint, Wright, Bryan, O’Neil, Cotterill, Smith, Reid, O’Dowda and Wilbraham. The big talking point of the Bristol side is the injury to prolific striker Tammy Abraham who is out with a hamstring injury.

First half
Newcastle got off to a nightmare start when Aaron Wilbraham found himself free at the far post and knocked in a header. Things went from bad to worse when a terrible header from Dummett and a mistake from Darlow left David Cotterill an empty net to tap the ball into. The home side suffered a few more scares when Korey Smith cracked off a shot from range. This was the wake-up call Newcastle needed as they started to create more chances but couldn’t break through Bristol’s defence. That signaled the end of the first half with Newcastle trailing two goals to nil.

Second half
Five minutes into the second half, Perez tried his luck with a 20-yard long shot that almost crept under the bar. Finally, Newcastle got a goal when a cross from Atsu was turned in by Korey Smith. But Bristol weren’t relenting and Cotterill almost scored a freekick. Matt Ritchie could’ve struck back but his shot was too far out to be a real threat. Another great chance went begging when Atsu rolled a shot less than a yard wide of the post. But only three minutes later, Ciaran Clark knocked in a header with only a few moments left to level the scores. Newcastle’s last chance of the match went past when Shelvey rifled a shot past the post. This brought an end to the match.

My thoughts
It is very annoying to drop two points when we should’ve got three. However, in the context of the match, the result isn’t too bad as we were 2-0 down in 20 minutes. But it’s frustrating that Brighton beat Reading 3-0 which puts them a point clear of Newcastle.